Smoke and Mirrors
by ExpectoPotato
Summary: Eren Jeager flees the normalcy of ordinary high-school life after watching his parents be brutally murdered. A year later, he's being hunted by the same men, seeking the key to something only Eren can unlock. But when a strange man shows up claiming to be on his side, will Eren choose to trust him? Time is running out... Modern AU. Eventual Ereri.


A/n: Hellooo!

So, I have no idea where exactly I'm going with this, but I'm excited!

New chappie will be posted asap, but I feel like i have to work on the plot and such a bit more, so it might take a while, but I'll try to have it up within a week, and hopefully slightly longer than this one.

And well, you know the drill, reviews are appreciated!

oh, and also, rating might (probably will) change in future.

So without further ado, enjoy!

Warning: Future boy x boy action, graphic violence, mature language... yep, think that's about it. Check chapters for individual warnings, though

Disclaimer: Noppity nope, I do not own Snk or any of its characters. But a girl can wish, right?

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**Smoke and Mirrors**

Chapter 1 – Last day of Normalcy

_One, two, three, jump, five, six, spin around..._

Crashing into his desk, Eren yelped as he bumped his hip painfully into the sharp deskcorner and promptly fell over, landing in a heap of pencils, discarded clothes and overturned deskchairs.

- Eren?

The door banged open. His best friend of eight years stared down at him, puzzeled at the mess of fabric and chair and Eren sprawled all over the floor. Half a second later, his lips started to twitch with the effort of holding back a smile, and he crossed his arms, regarding his friend with raised eyebrows, eyes practically dancing with amusement.

- I was practicing, Eren defended, trying not to look sheepish and failing miserably.

- By dancing with a chair? Armin questioned, eyeing the mess on the floor.

- No! I just fell over... this room is too small... ugh, you know what, nobody needs your sass Armin, just go away.

Smirk finally breaking into a grin, Armin walked in, extending a hand to help a pouting Eren off the floor.

- And here I thought dancers were supposed to be graceful.

- Shut up, Armin. This room is too small to practice in.

- No, it's because you're a cluts. The biggest cluts in the history of big-ass cluts.

- Hey! Are you calling my butt fat?

- Who ate an entire cheesecake for himself just last weekend?

- That was a Saturday. You can't be fat on a Saturday.

- Tell that to your jiggling ass.

Eren laughed, sneaking his arms around Armins slender waist and nuzzling the side of his neck.

- Would you still like me, if my butt got fat?

- Nope, he stated, and then giggled when Eren nipped at his ear in revenge. Hey!

- You love me, Eren said triumphantly.

- Liar.

Eren lounged on the couch in their small living room/eating area of their dorm, watching armin busy himself making coffee. It was funny, eren mused distractedly, how it always seemed like you'd known people from your childhood for forever. But he hadn't known Armin that long, it just seemed that way. They'd met the day after eren and his family had moved to the small town of shinganshina. His father had taken him for icecream, and he'd accidentally spilled it over a small blond boy in a sunhat and pink shoes. Some crying (from the boy having lost his ice-cream, and the boy being dunked in said ice-cream) apologizing and offerings to share a second cone later, the boys had made their parents exchange numbers and adresses, and argreed to play the next day. They'd been best friends ever since. A short while they'd even been more, but agreed that they were better as friends. And since nearly a year back, they were roomies, after both being admitted to the Shinganshina School of Arts.

- When was tyour novel due for anyway? Eren asked, glancing at the ginourmous pile of rejected drafts and scribbles littering the coffee table.

- Monday, Armin said with a sigh. I think it's starting to come together, though.

- Good.

- Why were you practising your choreography in there, by the way? Just go to the gym, where you don't have to kill yourelf and give me a heart attack.

- No time, Eren answered, voice muffled by the cushions.

- Armin looked up from the coffee he was making at the teeny kitchenette at the other side of the room, momentarily distracted.

- Oh right. Forgot you're going home to your parents today. You'll be staying the whole weekend, right?

- Yep.

- Say hi to carla for me.

- Come with me sometime and do it yourself.

- No way, she'll be trying to convice me to marry you again. Remember last time? She wanted a copy of my schoolphoto to put up next to yours!

- That's because you make the perfect son-in-law, sweetheart, Eren snickered, remembering his mothers complete stoneface, and Armins slightly panicked attempts to explain that eventual nuptials were... well, not happening.

- Still creepy, armin muttered into his coffee as Eren sat up, glancing on his watch. He groaned slightly.

- Aaand times up, he announced. I have to go.

He grabbed his jacket, slipping his arms through the sleeves and throwing his backpack over one shoulder.

- Kay. See you when you get back.

- See you.

Eren walked to the door, stopped, turned, and walked back.

- Hey armin?

- Yeah?

- You still like my ass even though its fat, don't you?

- Shut up!

Eren snickered, dropping a kiss on Armins cheek and dodging a slap before dancing out the door.

- Byyyeeeee!

He thought he heard something rhyming distinctly with "ducking glass mole"* before the door swung shut behind him. He grinned.

o0o

Two hours later, he was stepping off the bus, yawning and stretching like a cat as he was finally let out into the cool night air. Going by bus was cozy... for the first half-an-hour or so, before he got tired of people-watching, and the sound of the wheels and the enging became monotone, instead of soothing. But his parents worked long hours, so he didn't want to ask them to come get him, especially on a friday evening. So bus it was. He started walking at an unhurried pace, bag bumping comfortingly between his shoulder blades. His breath made fog in the air, and he breathed deeply, relishing the short walk to his house. It was times like this that he was suddenly reminded how nice it was to simply be out walking, not having to hurry or think about anything, just taking a stroll to be by himself and enjoy the rare quiet moment.

Soon, his house came into view, golden lights glinting between unruly tree branches, grass just a few inches too long. The house at the end of the lane. He smiled slightly. He'd seen a book with that title recently, and bought it just because it reminded him of his home.** He crossed the yard quickly, going for the back door automatically, a habit that had always confused his childhood friends. The first time he brought someone home, they'd always ask why they were taking the back entry, when the front porch was even clos... Eren glanced into the living room window, and stopped dead. There were men in their living room. Men he didn't recognize, men dressed in black. And someone lying on the floor. How weird. Had he fallen asleep? But why would he be sleeping on the...

red. There was something red, on the floor, around him. Like water, but red. And that shirt. That shirt, it looked exactly like the one that Eren had bought his father last christmas...

Eren shook his head, trying to clear his vision. Suddenly, he felt dizzy. Why was he dizzy? And why was his heart beating so hard, like he'd been running, when he'd only been standing... there was movement inside. One of them, one of the black-clad men had hit someone, a woman, long brown hair sticking in the blood covering her face. She looked up again, and Eren would have recognized her anywhere, bloodied face or not, because that was his mother, his mother with her face twisted with hate, with something Eren didn't recognize, something desperate and strong and hopeless, and she said something to the man, straining against the one holding her down, on her knees, and then she spit, right into his face. The man stood still, dangerously still, the way a cobra would freeze before striking, and Eren couldn't breathe, there wasn't enough air, there was something wrong with his lungs...

The man raised his hand, and he held a gun. A big black gun, and before Eren could understand what he was seeing, there was a flash of light. His mother slumped back, blood running in red ribbons from the hole in her forehead.

"_There was no sound"_, he thought distantly._"No gunshot"._

And then he realized that he was screaming.

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*I did not come up with that by myself. It's from City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare. Read it, it's awesome!

**Written by Neil Gaiman. There is no way my description is going to make it justice, so suffice to say it is one of the best books I have ever read.


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